Since its introduction, Short Message Service (SMS) has become widely adopted for sending short text messages between mobile devices and/or fixed line devices. For example, over 3.7 billion people worldwide use SMS text messaging, making it the most widely used mobile data application in the world. Other types of messaging are also increasing in usage, including Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) and/or other types of messaging that allow voice, image, or other data to be sent from or to mobile devices using the mobile device number for addressing. In some contexts, the term SMS may be used to refer to any type of messaging, including MMS.
Generally, mobile device messaging services operate using a store and forward mechanism. In these store and forward mechanisms, an originating device sends a message to a network. The network can store the message and forwards the message to the destination device when delivery is convenient based on other signaling overhead or communications between the destination device and the network. In some scenarios, the network may route the message to a different network associated with the destination device. The store and forward architecture of mobile messaging services can lead to a time delay between when the user of the originating device sends a message and when the destination device receives the message. In addition, most messaging services do not include any service guarantees. Messaging services may delay or even drop messages because of factors such as network congestion or signaling protocol failure such that they are not received at all by the destination device, sometimes with no indication that the message has been lost.
While unreliable, these messaging services are also increasingly being used for purposes other than sending messages between users, such as various notification, mobile banking, access control, and/or social media purposes. For example, some banking security systems use SMS to verify that the user associated with the account is making a particular transaction. The bank may send a transaction identifier to a mobile number associated with a banking account upon an attempt by the customer to perform a banking transaction involving the account. The transaction identifier may be required in addition to a personal identification number and/or other control identifiers to complete the transaction. In these and other time-critical and/or high priority applications, the delay or inconsistent operation of the store and forward mechanism of mobile messaging services may create serious problems for users.